Sisif, a railwayman, saves a young girl named Norma orphaned by a train crash and raises her as his own daughter alongside his son, Elie. As she becomes an adult, Sisif grapples with whether to tell Norma the truth about her parentage.
Direction
Gance's rapid-fire montage invented modern editing, basically.
Cinematography
Stunning mountain footage — he sent cameras up glaciers for this.
Editing
The 'Symphony of Wheels' sequence will melt your brain.
Director
Abel Gance
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was the most expensive French film ever made at the time, and Gance's obsession with machinery directly influenced Soviet montage theory.
FR
